Netanyahu released from hospital after overnight observation

JERUSALEM, Israel - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was discharged from hospital on Sunday with a heart monitor implanted under his skin, a day after he was hospitalised for dehydration.

The 73-year-old prime minister was kept overnight under observation at Sheba Medical Centre outside Tel Aviv, after he was sent there from his private residence in the coastal town of Caesarea, according to a statement from his office, said Xinhua.

During the about 20-hour hospitalisation, he underwent a series of medical checkups including lab tests and an electrocardiogram to measure his heart activity, according to a statement by the hospital.

All the tests "came out normal" and Netanyahu was "in excellent shape", the hospital said in the statement, adding the reason for the prime minister's hospitalisation was dehydration.

A heart recorder was implanted under Netanyahu's skin "to enable the prime minister's close medical team to go on with continuous monitoring", the hospital noted.

In a video statement released by Netanyahu on Saturday night from the hospital, the prime minister, who seemed in good spirits, said he had been on a holiday at the Sea of Galilee on Friday but had not taken proper precautions against a heatwave. Temperatures there reached 43 degrees Celsius on Friday.

Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving leader, has been under pressure on multiple fronts, including a criminal trial on corruption charges and massive nationwide protests against his controversial plan to overhaul the country's judicial system. - BERNAMA-XINHUA